Veritas compact router table flatness

[Winston Chang]

I just got a Veritas compact router table, and I found that the table is slightly bowed downward. Without the router or plate mounted in the table, I found that it dips about .005", measured right next to the place where the router plate would go.

Here's a picture. Note that I'm using millimeter feeler gauges, and there are .06 and .07 mm feeler gauges stacked on top of each other, so it's a total of .13 mm, or .005 inches.

IMG_5178.jpg


I have a larger Bosch aluminum router table, and it's so out of flat that it's useless for doing precise work, like joinery. Part of the reason I got this Veritas router table is because I wanted one that was usable for joinery, but I'm a bit concerned that the out-of-flatness here means that I'll have to constantly fight it to get precise results.

The router table is small (15 inches wide) and a dip of .005" seems like a lot to me, bu tI don't really know since I haven't used a good router table before. Will the dip in the surface of this table make it difficult to use it for precision work?

[Frederick Skelly]

Different people around here have different views on how accurately set up your machines must be. Obviously, the more accurate the better the work. For what I build, I think I could live with a 0.005" dip. Brian Holcome probably couldn't/wouldn't. I did look at LV's website and instructions, and I didn't see a specified flatness.

You said your aluminum router table is "so out of flat that it's useless for doing precise work, like joinery." How does this 0.005" dip compare to unacceptable flatness of the Bosch table? That would give you an idea of how "bad" the problem might really be.

[Curt Putnam]

Have you called Lee Valley? If the table is out of spec, it will be promptly replaced.

[Winston Chang]

You said your aluminum router table is "so out of flat that it's useless for doing precise work, like joinery." How does this 0.005" dip compare to unacceptable flatness of the Bosch table? That would give you an idea of how "bad" the problem might really be.

With the Bosch router table, the main table top was warped in a way that I couldn't ever get the rectangular plate to sit flush with it all the way around. I don't know exactly how out of flat it is. The plate is currently flush with the table at some parts of its perimeter, but not others. And I think the plate itself is also warped, but I haven't measured it.

I do know that the circle-shaped insert is significantly lower than the rest of the rectangular plate. I just checked, and I was able to slide a 0.40mm feeler gauge under there without it even contacting the straightedge; that's equivalent to 0.157", or 1/64". I tried to make a tenon on this router table once. Just once. The depth of the cut depended on where I was putting downward pressure on the workpiece (the workpiece will rock on the table), and what part of the table the workpiece was resting on, and I just couldn't get consistent, predictable results.

[Winston Chang]

Have you called Lee Valley? If the table is out of spec, it will be promptly replaced.

I haven't contacted them yet. There's no published spec as far as I can tell, so I thought I'd ask here first to see what standard of flatness people here aim for.